Me!! I love that new lady-who-looks-like-a-man football coach! What a marvelous character she is. Said she was 6'4" and they wrote that part just for her.

I loved her, too. That makes sense that they wrote it for her. I had been thinking that it would be a pretty tough part to cast. I Googled her and when I saw that she used to have really long curly hair, I recognized her right away from other stuff but would never have recognized her on the show with her short hair.

Crap, can't make the picture any bigger.

Anyone know who the new blonde kid was? I feel like I recognize him from somewhere but I can't find a cast list for last night.

ETA: Aha - love Google. He's Chord Overstreet. And, damn it, DON'T Google him if you don't want a big spoiler about his character! Now I wish I hadn't been so curious.

"We know who we are, we like talking smack about strangers, and we're not gonna stop!" -- GR's Kalirga

Coach Bieste(or however it's spelled)is such an awesome addition to the show! She really gives Sue a run for her money!

I'm not quite drunk enough to really care, but is this her violation of her violation of her violation of her violation of probation or her violation of her violation of her violation of her probation????? ~MontanaMama on LL's latest arrest.

I just jumped on the band wagon as only seeing this show the last part of last season BUT i can understand how adding a new dynamic to the group might change it. (Mind you i know it is fake so who gives a fuck)

Chord Overstreet joins the cast of Glee in Season 2 as Sam Evans, a transfer student to McKinley High, and rumors have been swirling around the internet that the hunky, 21-year-old Bieber-haired Nashville native will not only become the school’s starting quarterback and a member of the Glee club, but might start hitting for my team as a possible love interest for Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer). In an effort to ferret out the truth—or at least some sensational and prurient details—I gave Chord a call and grilled him about guilty pleasures, kissing boys, and his athletic build.

Brett Berk: I’m sure you get this all the time, but: Chord Overstreet? It’s like the moniker Charles Dickens would give to a plucky young dulcet-voiced hustler who lives in an abandoned coal shed on the elevated train tracks. Where did you get that name?

Chord Overstreet: I got the name from my mom and dad. I come from a big family—I have four sisters and one brother—and I was the third one born. And there are three notes in a chord, so, that’s how I got that name. My dad’s in the music business so he gave me a musical name.

I bet. Speaking of funny, tell me about how you got the part on Glee. Every cast member I’ve talked to has a crazy story about auditioning for some other part, or starting out as background scenery and ending up earning a role. Please tell me you have a really exciting anecdote where you were auditioning to be a Cheerio or Sue’s spectacularly handsome son.

I was actually auditioning to be Sue’s (Jane Lynch’s) stand-in—because we have the same color hair. I’m kidding. I auditioned for my part. I got a call from my agent one day and he asked if I could do an audition for Glee in like 30 minutes. So I grabbed my guitar and ran over there. There were so many people in the casting office they weren’t even having anyone read the sides, they were just having people play a song. So I played one, and they asked me to come back and talk to the casting agent. Then I played again. Then they asked me to walk out and “discreetely” get my sides, and come back and read. I was there for, like, five hours. Then I went home and they called and asked me to come back and sing two songs a capella. And then I sang two songs for the studio test and two for the network test. This was like at 9:30 at night. A week later I found out I got the part.

What did you sing?

I sang “Easy Like Sunday Morning” for the first round.

Hot.

Then I sang Gavin DeGraw’s “I Don’t Want to Be.” Then I sang one of my own songs—one of the songs I wrote.

So, you’re a songwriter too? I’m assuming you have a recording contract.

No. No I don’t.

Well, we’re going to have to get you one. Back to your audition. What did you sing next?

For the studio test, I sang “Billionaire” (by Travie McCoy) and one of my songs. And the same for the network test.

Any big splurges since you got the gig? Did you buy a purebred dog or some collector’s-item sneakers that the kids are into these days? A fancy new car, perhaps?

I didn’t actually. I haven’t really had time to make any splurges. I’ve been working, like, 14-hour days.

I heard they work you kids like slaves.

I love it. I love going to work.

That’s great. Now, what were you doing before this? I ask this quite honestly, because I tried, with my usual lame “journalistic” skills, to find some information on you, and your Wikipedia entry is very thin.

I made sure I deleted all my previous criminal records. I’m kidding. I don’t have a criminal record. I was doing the acting thing and writing songs and working on my music a lot. I had been doing that for the past year and a half or two. Going to various acting classes and doing what everybody does out in L.A. Any opportunity I’d get for an audition that had any kind of music involved, I’d try to jump on. So when I got the call for Glee I jumped on the opportunity, grabbed my guitar, and ran down there.

Were you a fan of the show prior to landing the part?

I didn’t watch the first half of the first season when it aired, but when I went home for the holidays last year, my sisters were crazy about the show, and they really wanted me to watch it. So I turned it on the DVR and watched Episode One through the end of the first half. I couldn’t stop watching it. It was that addicting.

One thing I did discover on the internet is your online resume in which you are described as being six feet tall, 160 pounds, and having an “Athletic” build. Having (repeatedly) watched your shower scene in the Glee season premiere, this all seems quite accurate. Do you have a rather intense workout routine, or do you just do a lot of choreographed dancing, jazzercise, and the like?

Well, I do like two or three hours at a time in the gym. I was there last night. I just did chest and abs and triceps. Flat bench for two sets of 100 reps each on a light weight, then fifteen reps of four sets of really heavy weight. Then I did my push ups. Then I did this thing with pulleys and the weights attached, which is like an exercise for your chest. Then running. Then an hour of abs.

An hour of abs?!

You got to look good for the ladies. And for all those guys who want to see your body. If I’m going to be on national T.V. without my shirt on, I’ve got to look good.

Well, Chord. You succeeded.

Thank you.

Now, of course, the question everyone wants to know is if the rumors that you will become Kurt’s boyfriend on the show are accurate?

I actually don’t know that yet. We get everything an episode at a time. As of what we’ve shot now, they haven’t revealed anything about my character in a relationship way. But I think we’ll find out soon enough.

What about off the show? Any chemistry between you and Chirs Colfer?

(Laughs.) There’s a chemistry between everybody on the show. It’s weird because they’ve kind of all known each other for a year, there’s a bunch of inside jokes that I don’t get yet. You feel a little on the awkward side about jumping in with a new cast that really know each other. But everyone’s been cool. Chris has been really cool. Dianna (Agron), Corey (Monteith), Mark (Salling), Kevin (McHale). They’ve all been super cool.

So we don’t know what future episodes hold, but what if that is the case? When I spoke to Dianna Agron recently she said that one of the joys of working on the show is opening the scripts and discovering all the crazy stuff that’s about to happen. How would you feel if you opened up a script and found out you’d be playing a gay love interest?

It would just be one of those things where you have to do what the material says. The writers have a different twist for each episode. I signed on to do my job, so I need to do my job the best I can. I don’t know if I necessarily would take my work home with me! But if that was the case, I’m sure it would be fun. I mean, I’ve done a couple scenes with Chris so far, and he’s a talented guy, so I’m sure it would be a fun thing. Acting wise.

There is rumored to be man-on-man kissing. You’d be down with that?

I don’t know if I would be totally down with that outside of work. I’ve never kissed a guy before. But it’s acting. It’s kind of one of those things. Currently you have to kiss a bunch of strange people in the world of film and television.

You have to kiss a bunch of strange people?

Throughout your whole career, there’s a bunch of people you might have to kiss. Say there’s this character opposite you, and you might not be into her—or him, personally. You just gotta’ do it. That’s your job.

And beyond? You’re willing to go full Brokeback?

I have no idea. I’m going to say, no comment. I’m going to dig myself in a hole.

O.K., fine. Enough about gay sex for a second. Are we allowed to talk about your upcoming songs? You’ve got a great hair-metal piece in the premiere, and then a top-40 song with which my 11-year-old niece tortured me during a road trip this summer— a song you sing very well and expressively. Can you say what else is on tap for you? Or at least hint at genres and eras?

We haven’t really gotten too far into the season so I haven’t really heard all of what they have planned. I have an alternative kind of genre, so I think they’re going to start writing for that. It’s been mainly group numbers so far. But I would love to do a Justin Timberlake song or a John Mayer song. That would be fun.

What would be your dream song? And please be honest. People love heartfelt sincerity when it comes to cheesy, reviled, or anthemic guilty pleasure songs. For example, I wish I had any vocal abilities just so I could sing Bob Seger’s “Night Moves.”

That’s a good one. I guess I’d like to do one of my songs. One of my originals. If I played it on the show, I think people would love it. But as far as covers go… I think it would be fun to do a Michael Jackson number. I’ve always been a fan of “Beat It,” “You Rock My World,” and “Smooth Criminal.”

What about something a little more embarrassing? A guilty pleasure.

Maybe a Disney song. From Aladdin. Maybe the song “A Whole New World,” or the one that Robin Williams sings. The Genie one. What’s it called? I haven’t seen Aladdin in probably ten years.

Yeah, I haven’t seen it in a couple months either. Speaking of embarrassing, tell me the most embarrassing thing that’s happened to you—besides having to participate in this interview—since you joined the show. And I don’t want flubbing a note, or slipping on a spot of Matthew Morrison’s hair oil. Tell me something morbidly humiliating.

I definitely have some wardrobe that’s pretty hilarious. But it hasn’t been embarrassing yet, because no one’s seen me in it. But when they do see me, they’re going to die laughing.

Oh, please tell me what it is.

I can’t tell you about it because I would get in trouble. It has something to do with the scripts.

So are you getting recognized on the street already? Do you have to wear a wig and dark glasses and such?

I wear the suit that the guy wears in Halo—The Master Chief—so I still get looked at and stared at. But the Halo fans are great. They run up to me, and they’re like, “Master Chief!” and they ask me to sign their X-Box controllers. I’m kidding. No, I’m not getting recognized much. Maybe once the show starts to air.

Well, I’ve talked to other cast members and they’re pretty much shut-ins now. They can’t even leave their houses.

Really?

No. Not really. They just can’t leave without getting mobbed by 11- year-old girls and 40-year-old gay men.

I’ve heard. I talked to Chris about that, and the 40-year-old gay men do attack him a lot. Someone said something about being mobbed by gay guys, and he said, “I’ve been there.”

I bet. Well, I wish you the best of luck. You’re going to be a big hit on the show, Chord. You’ll be mobbed yourself soon enough.